He was not alone in his success as Saipan born Clinton Dela Cruz bagged the silver medal in the Intermediate No-Gi division by getting all three opponents to submit via arm bar, guillotine choke, and inverted triangle choke in order to make it to the finals match.
The NAGA competition consisted of about 800-1000 competitors. Competitors won a match by either securing a submission or forcing his opponent to tap out or by gaining points through sweeps, takedowns, passing the guard, or catching a submission lock.
The cruiserweight division that Jose Mafnas had competed in consisted of about seven competitors. Mafnas, like Dela Cruz, competed three times to win the gold medal for the intermediate No-Gi category.
During Mafnas’ first match, his opponent had secured a guillotine choke on him for about three minutes into the match, but he managed to escape and gain points by scoring a take down, establishing position, and catching a head/arm choke and a Kimura.
Second match was a little tougher as Mafnas was pegged up against a competitor who obviously had high school or college wrestling experience.
It was a very intense match but Mafnas managed to win with a takedown position and catching a Kimura for points.
The third and final match for Mafnas was for the gold. “I had to compete against the biggest guy in the division! I was initially losing by 9 points (0-9) in the first 2 ½ minutes. I managed to score 4 points with a takedown and sweep. I caught a Kimura lock with a minute left in the round and finally forced my opponent to tap with less than 30 seconds left! He otherwise would’ve beaten me by a 5-point lead if I did not finish it” said Mafnas in an interview with the Variety yesterday.
Jose Mafnas currently hones his MMA talents at the Gracie Barra University-Hawaii which is setting its eyes for the next competition on November 27, 2010 in the Hawaii Triple Crown Jiu-Jitsu Championships where Mafnas will be competing in the No-Gi Expert division and Blue-Belt Gi Division.
Mafnas hopes for an exhibition match in December’s Trench Warz when he returns to Saipan. “It’s always an honor train at Trench Tech and to fight for the fans at home!” he added.
Special thanks go out to his friends and family for their unending support, Cuki Alvarez and Trench Tech, instructors and teammates at the Gracie Barra University-Hawaii.
“Long live the island warriors! God bless the CNMI!” exclaimed Mafnas.
